


Best Tears of Your Life

by Gal



Series: Grow As We Go [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Child Abuse, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, Minor Character Death, Scott McCall (Teen Wolf) is a Failwolf, Scott is a Good Friend, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Stiles Stilinski Needs a Hug, Stiles Stilinski-centric, soulmark
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:48:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22769578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gal/pseuds/Gal
Summary: Because while their flowers may change, his never does.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Scott McCall & Stiles Stilinski
Series: Grow As We Go [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1637032
Kudos: 28





	Best Tears of Your Life

He was supposed to be an ordinary boy.

An ordinary boy born to an ordinary family in ordinary town.

And he was.

For a time.

But the family turned out to not be so ordinary

( _Mom, stop!_ ).

And the town wasn’t so ordinary either

( _You’re cursed, Scott_ ) _._

So, neither was the boy

( _No, a body of water. Yes, dumbass, a dead body)._

_____

His life, his family, his town.

All ordinary at first.

Like most children, his first flowers were from his parents.

A pink carnation on the apple of his cheek from his mom

( _Mieczysław… Mischief… I said duct tape fixes most things not everything_ …).

A blue hyacinth from his father

( _I happen to like the new duct tape pattern on my favorite tie)._

And from him, they each carried a violet, a flower that stays true

( _Because while their flowers may change, his never does_ ).

_____

He met his best friend in the sand box.

( _Something that they both find inexplicably funny to this day_ ).

Nothing particularly special happened.

( _One day they just clicked_ ).

Scott was the quiet one. Always kept to himself. Always played in the sandbox.

( _Mom, I want to be like Bob the Builder!_ )

And Stiles was his opposite. Always loud. Always flitting from one group to the next, playing anything from Cops and Robbers to House

( _No fair! Why do I always have to be the dog?_ ).

And Stiles was always, always running up, out of breath, to get Scott to play with him

( _Hey, we are playing Sharks and Minnows if you want to join!)_

And Scott always gave a small smile and a shake of his head, but Stiles never gave up

( _Did you hear_ _Lydia brought her fancy bubble wand today?)_.

Always flailing his limbs

( _Danny found a lizard! You have to come see!)._

Always full of excitement

( _Erica is back at school today! Do you want to play Power Rangers with us?_ ).

Always walking away disappointed

( _Alright, suit yourself)._

Until one day, Stiles changed tactics.

This time he walked up. He was calm. He was quiet. And he didn’t say anything. He just plopped himself down on the opposite side of the sandbox and got to work on his “fortress”.

And they stayed like that most of recess. Both looking at each other out of the corner of their eyes as they worked on their masterpieces with the same thought in mind, but both too nervous to voice it

( _Does he mind that I’m here?_ ).

Stiles got so invested in the moat he was making that he didn’t even hear the teacher’s whistle that signaled the end of recess.

It wasn’t until he felt a shadow come over him that he looked around and realized the playground was empty

( _Teacher blew the whistle a while ago)_.

The voice was soft but confident. And its owner’s hand was stretched out in front of him, a silent offer to help him up.

It was the first time Stiles had heard him speak outside of the stilted replies he gave the teacher

( _No, ma’am. Yes ma’am. Thank you, ma’am_ ).

And he must have stared a little too long because both Scott’s smile and hand began to drop

( _No, wait!_ ).

And Stiles quickly latched onto his hand

( _Leaving two yellow roses in each of their palms_ )

And they quickly latched onto each other.

____

He picked up more flowers here and there

( _Like the_ _primrose from Erica_ ).

Some seemed to fade but never scar

( _The ivy from Jackson_ )

Some seemed to stand out, strong from the day he got them

( _The yellow chrysanthemums from Lydia_ )

And some would confuse him for years to come

( _The begonia from Theo_ ).

____

He’d seen it before

( _The way flowers can change_ ).

He’d seen how a new flower could be added by someone you’d already reached out towards

( _And how one can fade away_ ).

He’d seen it when Boyd’s holly scarred across his cheek

( _And when petunias covered Boyd’s arms_ )

And he didn’t think it was a coincidence they appeared right after his sister went missing

( _You weren’t supposed to leave me. Why did you leave me?_ )

He’d seen it when Scott was dropped off for a sleepover in the middle of the night with a bandage on the back of his head

( _And a brand-new butterfly weed on his shoulder_ ).

He’d seen it that same night in the scarring on Ms. McCall’s wrist

( _Rafael, I want you gone by tomorrow morning_ ).

And he’d seen in the red poppy that covered most of Isaac’s face

( _How did you get that black eye, Isaac?_ )

But he never expected it for himself.

____

He knew his mom had been sick for a while, but he realized things were taking a turn for the worse when he looked in the mirror and saw his pink carnation was beginning to fade.

At the time, he thought he knew what that meant

( _He thought he knew on which path her health was headed_ ).

But then one day he saw his dad’s forearm

( _His forget-me-not just as vibrant as it was the day it first appeared_ ).

And he realized it wasn’t just his mother’s health fading

( _I couldn’t stand to be in that room anymore. Not with him looking at me like that_ ).

He realized maybe it was her love for him, too

( _I don’t care if you don’t believe me, but he is. He’s trying to kill me_ ).

And if her words on that rooftop weren’t enough

( _Stop looking at me like that! Stop looking at me!_ )

The dark aconite that peppered his skin after the attack was.

_____

His dad wore the duct taped tie to the funeral

( _It was her favorite tie on me_ )

Stiles wore his freckling aconite scars

( _Though he would rather wear anything else_ )

And they both wore blank expressions as they stayed graveside well after the service had ended, each trying to hold it together for the other

( _He needs me_ ).

And they didn’t move for what felt like hours, didn’t move until a phone call came in

( _Are you all coming?_ ).

And when Stiles felt the hand on his shoulder squeeze, he finally looked away from the casket

( _You still have me_ ).

____

They were late to the reception.

A reception neither of them wanted but Aunt Kathy insisted on having

( _Noah, she wouldn't want you to hole yourself up in that house_ ).

And had Stiles known that taking his suit jacket off

( _How the hell am I supposed to raise this stupid kid on my own?_ )

Would end in him having a yellow carnation in the crux of his elbow

( _This hyperactive little bastard that keeps ruining my life?_ )

He would have dealt with the stuffiness of the reception hall

( _It’s you, Stiles)_.

And if he knew that the bottle of whisky Uncle Jerzy brought to the reception

( _You killed your mother_ )

Would be the beginning of his father’s alcoholism

( _You hear me? You killed her_ )

And that that same bottle would end up flying towards his head at a rapid speed

( _And now you’re killing me_ )

He would have fled the reception much sooner.

____

Scott, of course, was the one to find him

( _Our old sandbox isn’t the best hiding spot, dude_ ).

And Stiles didn’t reply

( _Not that Scott expected him to_ ).

They both sat on opposite sides of the sandbox until the sun went down

( _Until the shadow of the night hit Stiles’s face_ )

Until Scott couldn’t bear to sit so far away anymore

( _Does he mind that I’m here?_ ).

Unable to ignore it all anymore, Scott got up to sit next to him and squeezed his hand

( _We can share my mom if you want_ ).

And it was just so earnest that Stiles couldn’t help but snort

And what started out as a snort turned into a laugh

( _And then a cry_ ).

And what started out as holding hands turned into holding each other.

And Scott ( _thankfully_ ) said nothing more

And Stiles just held on tighter to his idiot ( _but well-meaning_ ) best friend until Ms. McCall came to find them.

____

He stayed with Scott and Ms. McCall for a few weeks after the funeral

( _He just needs a little more time_ ).

Seeing the yellow carnation on his elbow was enough to cause a panic attack

( _You still have me_ ).

And seeing the scars in his reflection alone was enough to fuel his nightmares

( _He’s trying to kill me!_ ).

____

Things went back to normal eventually

( _As normal as they could be_ ).

Stiles went home, his dad went to AA

( _A social worker visited regularly for a few months_ )

And they moved on.

Stiles grew to be frantic over the Sheriff’s health

( _No more fries, dad. Your cholesterol is already too high_ )

And the Sheriff grew to be okay without his wife

( _Hey kiddo, are we watching the game tonight?_ )

But the yellow carnation never grew to fade

( _And neither did the guilt_ ).

____

And if you think about it

( _Like everything else_ )

It was his fault.

Scotty would have never gone out into the woods that night, if it weren't for him

( _You’re the one who’s always bitching that nothing ever happens in this town_ ).

And he knows he joked about it at the time

( _Oh, it’s the worst. But only once a month_ ).

But if he was honest with himself, he knew right after he said it.

( _The tattoos he left behind in the woods when he reached for his hand to steady him only confirmed it_ ).

Merlin was the only being to have ever left dill on anyone

( _Until after the night in the woods. Until Scott_.)

And if finding out Scott could be ( _probably is_ ) an all-powerful being wasn't enough, they had to run into Derek Hale

( _What are you doing here? This is private property)_.

**Author's Note:**

> I probably should work on the fic I started months ago, but here I am posting whatever this is. This mistake-ridden, eye sore is not meant to be grammatically correct, but I am assuming if you made it to the end notes, you don't mind too much. 
> 
> This was supposed to be a short little thing like the Theo version of this was, but it started to run away from me, and now it's a rambling angsty mess. It was going to be all one chapter, but I honestly just can't look at this anymore today, and if I don't post this part now, I'll probably never finish the other part later. If for some reason you like this, please check out Bloom for You, this story's much better counterpart. I don't know when I will finish this, so I apologize in advance. 
> 
> Below is a flower/plant key. These are all from different sources, and some flowers have different meanings, so I very well could be wrong on half, if not on all these flower interpretations. All flowers are listed in order of appearance. 
> 
> pink carnation: motherly love  
> blue hyacinth: constancy  
> violet: loyalty, devotion  
> yellow rose: friendship (more recently)  
> primrose: young love  
> ivy: friendship  
> yellow chrysanthemum: slighted love  
> holly: domestic happiness  
> petunias: resentment  
> butterfly weed: 'leave me!'  
> red poppy: remembrance for a fallen soldier (more recently)  
> forget-me-not: true love, but also remembrance  
> aconite (monkshood): hatred, be cautious  
> yellow carnation: disdain, disappointment  
> dill: powerful against evil


End file.
